Editing Graphics tablet (section)

== History ==
The first electronic handwriting device was the [[Telautograph]], patented by [[Elisha Gray]] in 1888.<ref>{{ citation | last = Gray | first = Elisha | title = Telautograph | publisher = United States Patent 386,815 | date = 1888-07-31 }}</ref> 

The first graphic tablet resembling contemporary tablets and used for handwriting recognition by a computer was the ''Stylator'' in 1957.<ref>{{citation | last = Dimond | first = Tom | title = Papers and discussions presented at the December 9-13, 1957, eastern joint computer conference: Computers with deadlines to meet on XX - IRE-ACM-AIEE '57 (Eastern) | chapter = Devices for reading handwritten characters | publisher = Proceedings of Eastern Joint Computer Conference | pages = 232–237 | date = 1957-12-01 | doi = 10.1145/1457720.1457765 | isbn = 9781450378628 | s2cid = 17961928 | chapter-url = http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1457765 | access-date = 2008-08-23 }}</ref> Better known (and often misstated as the first digitizer tablet) is the [[RAND Tablet]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sophia.javeriana.edu.co/~ochavarr/computer_graphics_history/historia/ |title=An Historical Timeline of Computer Graphics and Animation |access-date=2007-09-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070629061126/http://sophia.javeriana.edu.co/~ochavarr/computer_graphics_history/historia/ |archive-date=2007-06-29 }}</ref> also known as the ''Grafacon''<ref>{{citation | last = Engelbart | first = Douglas C. | title = Display-Selection Techniques for Text Manipulation | publisher = IEEE Transactions on Human Factors in Electronics | pages = 5–15 | date = March 1967 | url = http://dougengelbart.org/pubs/augment-133184.html#2 | access-date = 2013-03-26 }}</ref> (for Graphic Converter), introduced in 1964. The RAND Tablet employed a grid of wires under the surface of the pad that encoded horizontal and vertical [[coordinates]] in a small [[electrostatic]] signal. The stylus received the signal by capacitive coupling, which could then be decoded back as coordinate information.

The [[acoustic tablet]], or ''spark tablet'', used a stylus that generated clicks with a [[spark plug]]. The clicks were then triangulated by a series of microphones to locate the pen in space.<ref>{{citation | title = Spark Pen | last = Whetstone | first = A. | publisher = Science Accessories Corporation: United States Patent 3,626,483 | date = 1971-12-07 | url = https://patents.google.com/patent/US3626483 | access-date = 2009-11-16}}</ref> The system was fairly complex and expensive, and the sensors were susceptible to interference by external noise.

Digitizers were popularized in the mid-1970s and early 1980s by the commercial success of the ID (Intelligent Digitizer) and BitPad manufactured by the [[Summagraphics]] Corp.<ref>{{Cite web|title=BitPad - Summagraphics {{!}} 102710374 {{!}} Computer History Museum|url=https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102710374|access-date=2021-07-05|website=www.computerhistory.org}}</ref> The Summagraphics digitizers were sold under the company's name but were also private labeled for [[Hewlett-Packard|HP]], [[Tektronix]], [[Apple Inc.|Apple]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=1979 Apple II Graphics Tablet {{!}} AppleToTheCore.me|url=http://appletothecore.me/files/apple_graphics_tablet.php|access-date=2021-07-05|website=appletothecore.me}}</ref> [[Evans & Sutherland|Evans and Sutherland]] and several other graphic system manufacturers. The ID model was the first graphics tablet to make use of what was at the time, the new [[Intel]] [[microprocessor]] technology. This embedded processing power allowed the ID models to have twice the accuracy of previous models while still making use of the same foundation technology. Key to this accuracy improvement were two US Patents issued to Stephen Domyan, Robert Davis, and Edward Snyder. The Bit Pad model was the first attempt at a low cost graphics tablet with an initial selling price of $555 when other graphics tablets were selling in the $2,000 to $3,000 price range. This lower cost opened up the opportunities for would be entrepreneurs to be able to write graphics software for a multitude of new applications. These digitizers were used as the input device for many high-end [[Computer-aided design|CAD]] (Computer Aided Design) systems as well as bundled with PCs and PC-based CAD software like [[AutoCAD]]. These tablets used a [[magnetostriction]] technology which used wires made of a special [[alloy]] stretched over a solid substrate to accurately locate the tip of a stylus or the center of a digitizer cursor on the surface of the tablet. This technology also allowed Proximity or "Z" axis measurement.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.computerworld.com/article/2519943/apple-mac/face-off--1979-apple-graphics-tablet-vs--2010-apple-ipad.html|title=Face-off: 1979 Apple Graphics Tablet vs. 2010 Apple iPad|first=Ken|last=Gagne|work=Computerworld |date=13 August 2010}}</ref>

In 1981, musician [[Todd Rundgren]] created the first color graphic tablet software for personal computers, which was licensed to Apple as the Utopia Graphic Tablet System.<ref>{{cite news|last=Mackintosh|first=Hamish|date=18 March 2004|title=Talk time: Todd Rundgren|newspaper=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2004/mar/18/onlinesupplement}}</ref>

In 1981, the [[Quantel Paintbox]] color graphic workstation was released; This model was equipped with the first pressure sensitive tablet.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pennington |first=Adrian |date=2019-11-26 |title=Quantel gave broadcast a quantum leap into the era of digital creative technology |url=https://www.ibc.org/trends/industry-innovators-quantel/5245.article |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200919093413/https://www.ibc.org/trends/industry-innovators-quantel/5245.article |archive-date=2020-09-19 |access-date=2021-07-05 |website=IBC |language=en}}</ref>

The first [[home computer]] graphic tablet was the [[KoalaPad]], released in 1983. Though originally designed for the [[Apple II]], the Koala eventually broadened its applicability to other home computers including the [[TRS-80 Color Computer]], [[Commodore 64]], and [[Atari 8-bit computers]].

In the 1980s, several vendors of graphic tablets began to include additional functions, such as [[handwriting recognition]] and on-tablet menus.<ref>{{citation | title = Pencept Penpad (TM) Manual | publisher = Pencept, Inc. | date = 1983-06-15 | url = http://users.erols.com/rwservices/pens/biblio83.html#Pencept83 }}</ref><ref>{{citation | title = SAC GP-10 Two-dimensional Sonic Digitizer | publisher = Science Accessories Corporation | date = 1988-06-15 | url = http://users.erols.com/rwservices/pens/biblio85.html#SAC85 }}</ref>